The Super Majority

Reid Unhappy as Obama Continues to Knock Las Vegas

President Obama is catching heat from Nevada lawmakers and business leaders regarding his comments Tuesday criticizing trips to Las Vegas.

During the president’s town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, he discussed the need to curb spending during tough economic times. “When times are tough, you tighten your belts,” the president said. “You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”

The president’s comments come nearly a year after he criticized companies that received federal money for taking corporate junkets to Las Vegas. “You can’t go take that trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on taxpayers’ dime,” he said at the time. Local business leaders say Nevada tourism suffered last year in part because companies canceled trips to Las Vegas in the wake of the president’s comments.

Read the full article at Las Vegas Now

Small Business Tired of Being Obama’s Last Priority

Politicians trying to figure out why the electorate is so angry and frustrated will find answers in a simple chat with shopkeepers and small-business owners on Main Street.

When it comes to small business, the disconnect between reality on the ground and what policymakers are talking about is enormous. Even worse, the aspirations of small-business owners are being eroded not only by economic jitters but also by massive uncertainty about deficits and future government policies.

Many small-business owners feel they’ve been financially and politically redlined — starved of debt and equity capital, shut out of the political conversation and put at the bottom of the priority list while big companies and unions get huge financial and tax breaks.

Read the full article at the Denver Post

Economists Say Obama’s Job Bill ‘Grasping at Straws’

President Barack Obama’s job-creation program could produce a short-term political boost, but it’s unlikely to significantly stem job losses and reduce the unemployment rate anytime soon, according to economists.

“People are out of work. They are hurting. They need our help. I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay,” the president said during his State of the Union speech.

But even he acknowledged, that “the truth is, these steps won’t make up for the 7 million jobs we’ve lost over the last two years.”

Specifically, the president wants to give a tax break to businesses that hire workers, eliminate the capital gains tax on small business investments and use $30 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program money to encourage community banks to lend to small businesses.

“He’s trying to turn his microeconomic policies into some macroeconomic solution. He’s grasping at straws,” said Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland.

Read the full article at POLITICO

Obama’s Doing the Opposite of Creating Jobs

The first stimulus package is a prime example of Washington’s wrong-headed thinking. So far it has created few, if any, new jobs for two reasons.

First, very little of the $787 billion package has actually reached the economy — only 20%, to be precise. Second, only a tiny piece of that has gone directly into job creation.

The Administration’s latest proposals to increase jobs give with one hand while taking back with the other.

Read Full Article at Marketwatch

Dream Mortgage Bailout Has a Darker Side

It will go down as one of the biggest — and most popular — bailouts of the credit crunch. But who will pay for it later?

The Federal Reserve is buying hundreds of billions of dollars of low-interest-rate mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The purchases, which so far amount to $250 billion and could grow to $1.25 trillion, have driven mortgage rates to historical lows, inducing house purchases and sparking a refinancing wave.

This serves key social and political goals: It helps shore up house prices, while the lower mortgage rates put extra money into the pockets of people who aren’t struggling to service their mortgages. This then makes them less likely to oppose taxpayer-funded moves to support homeowners facing foreclosure.

Read the Full Article at WSJ